


For Better, Or Worse

by wackyjacqs



Series: Bizarre Holidays [111]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s07e13 Grace, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 07:52:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18545485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs
Summary: The reminder of that mission and its outcome was suddenly too much for Sam. She didn’t even realize her hands were shaking until she felt the colonel’s fingers graze over her knee.“Carter, you alright?”





	For Better, Or Worse

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies this update is late; none of the ideas I tried for this holiday really worked, so I struggled with this one (and I’m already struggling with today’s too). My brain feels like it's getting tired… 
> 
> This is set during season 7, shortly after ‘Grace’. The holiday can be found at the end of the chapter. Thank you for your patience! Xx

Sam flipped open the folder she’d been handed by Major Paul Davis a few moments earlier as she settled into her usual seat at the briefing room table, but as she let her eyes roam over the pages, she didn’t actually take in any of the information.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be at the briefing; she just... didn’t want to be at the briefing.

She had been spending some time with her brother and his family and, for once, she’d actually allowed herself to relax and enjoy a few days away from her work. The vacation had been going well – even after her brother had not-so-casually mentioned a friend of his he wanted her to meet – and Sam had been using the downtime to allow her to recover from the injuries she’d sustained aboard the Prometheus. Being away from her team has also given her a chance to try and figure out just what had or hadn’t happened during the four days she’d been stranded. Or, more specifically, understand what her hallucinations had meant. If anything.

However, she’d only been three days into her week’s leave when she received an urgent call from the SGC asking her to return to the base as soon as possible. Which would be fine, except she didn’t feel like she was ready to return to work yet. She was tired, the headaches were still bad and she wasn’t ready to face her team. To face _him_. She hadn’t told them much about her time on the Prometheus and she knew they were concerned about her, but she couldn’t find it in herself to share how she’d managed to save herself and everyone else on board.

“So, let me get this straight,” came the colonel’s sharp voice, pulling her from her thoughts. “You want us to go undercover?”

“Yes, sir,” Major Davis nodded. He cast a quick glance at the general before he continued. “We believe they’ve an operative inside one of the high schools.”

“And that’s where you want us to go?”

At Daniel’s question, she glanced at her teammates, frowned, and then looked back to the folder in her hands. She had obviously zoned out for longer than she’d realized and had no idea what was going on.

She retuned her focus back to the pages before her and as she started to read through them, her eyes widened. There seemed to be a reasonable amount of evidence to suggest that a lower-level Goa’uld was hiding out on Earth. In Denver, to be precise, where the residents of one town in particular had started to act oddly. Again, those being targeted were found to be similar to the profiles of those Seth had chosen all those years ago – young, fit, healthy – and the reminder of that mission and its outcome was suddenly too much for Sam. She didn’t even realize her hands were shaking until she felt the colonel’s fingers graze over her knee.

“Carter, you alright?”

She caught the concern and worry in his eyes, but she nodded anyway and when she felt his fingers tighten around her knee, she forced a smile and uttered a, “Yes, sir.” He stared at her for a few more seconds, a flicker of understanding in his expression, just before he looked away. Sam went back to looking at the report, but the colonel’s hand stayed in place.

“General,” he said suddenly, “the last time we dealt with something like this, we killed the guy.”

Sam felt her heart rate quicken at his words but before she could say or do anything to stop the memories, he continued, “We won’t be expected to use the hand device again, will we?”

His words were shaped like a question, but his tone made it clear that he’d already made up his mind. Even if the answer was yes, he would not make her use the technology.

“No, colonel,” Hammond confirmed softly from the head of the table. “Your team will be on your own for this one.”

The general’s answer settled some of the nerves that had gathered in Sam’s stomach and she released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

“Thank you, sir,” she whispered, but when she felt the colonel’s fingers squeeze her leg before he broke the contact, she wasn’t sure who exactly her thanks had been directed.

“So,” Jack said, moments later, flicking through his own folder. “We’re going undercover... as teachers?”

Davis nodded at Jack’s look.

“Will it not appear most suspicious if the four of us appear in the vicinity at the same time?”

All eyes turned to Teal’c at his question and when Hammond and Davis shared an uneasy look, the team had a bad feeling about what they were about to say next.

The general took a deep breath and leaned his elbows on the table.

“The President has agreed to pull SG-1 from its duties here in order to infiltrate and neutralize the threat posed by this Goa’uld.”

_“Sir?”_

He glanced at Jack before his expression softened slightly. “I understand your concerns, but this is one mission that is going to take a while to complete.”

“The current semester doesn’t finish for another few weeks,” Sam said with a slight frown as she tried to remember her niece’s and nephew’s schedule.

“That’s correct,” Hammond nodded. “That’s why your orders are to go to Denver and get... settled in for a while.”

“General –”

“So, when the new school year begins,” he continued softly, ignoring the colonel’s interruption, “no-one will think it strange that there’s been a few new additions to the staff.”

A heavy silence fell around the table as the team let the enormity of the mission settle in. They knew it was something they would do, that they had to do, but it was also a mission that would vary greatly from the ones they were so used to undertaking.

“So,” the colonel sighed. “What’s our new identities?”

“Everything will be given to you shortly,” Davis answered, “but there is a summary in the back of the folder.”

The sound of pages being turned broke the silence.

“Brad Pearson,” she heard her commanding officer mutter to her right. “High school coach. No kids. Married –”

He stopped abruptly and Sam turned her attention back to her own folder at the mention of the colonel’s relationship status and tried not to focus on why that one little word bothered her so much. Her unease only intensified however when she read through her own notes.

_Helen Pearson. Science teacher. No kids. Married._

_Spouse: Brad Pearson._

She inhaled sharply at the discovery.

Not only was she going undercover with her team to try and catch a Goa’uld, but she was _technically_ going to be married to her commanding officer.

At any other time, Sam briefly thought she’d appreciate the opportunity to see a different side to the colonel and play happy families, but right now, after the events from the Prometheus and the already untenable hold she had on her emotions, she knew that this was one mission she didn’t want to accept.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ‘Husband Appreciation Day’ (20 April).


End file.
